


We'll Be a Perfect Family

by xphantomhive



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 06:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2571371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xphantomhive/pseuds/xphantomhive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three oneshots and three dysphoric tales of three families: one that lives in a dollhouse, one that smiles for a portrait even though they're breaking at the seams, and one that is walking on thin ice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Keep the Curtains Drawn

**Author's Note:**

> Based on "Dollhouse" by Melanie Martinez.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone thinks the Jaeger's are perfect, but Mikasa knows.

They took her in when she was young.

In retrospect, it may have been because she was the last puzzle piece to their family without flaw. Religious, an intelligent son who never earns anything less than an A, and a married couple who loved one another. The purest of love, undying and void of problems. Soon as the curtains were drawn and the doors were locked, though, it was an entirely different story.

If there were guests over, their eyes would trail to the mantle and they would smile. A picture of the four of them, one directly next to it of the two children. In every one, they looked happy, like their love for each other surpassed all other families. That was what Carla liked to call their doll faces. Dresses, smiles, and perfection.

"Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?"

Yes, she remembers replying. Of course. She loved this family. They took her in and made sure she was clothed with a stomach full of food. Until no one was around or they had few guests to see what happened. They'd be in awe at her mother, golden jewelry and expensive clothing. All distractions. She's got it going on? Hah! Soon as they turn their backs, she grabs the flask from her cream colored jacket and swallows whiskey from it. It makes her numb. She forgets her husband's infidelity that way.

Mikasa vaguely remembers trying to wake Carla up, shaking her rapidly in hopes she may quickly awaken from her alcohol coma.

"Mom," She would whisper. "Please wake up, dad's with a slut, and Eren's smoking cannabis."

If the black haired girl remembers, she never did wake with a start. Not once. It was humorous, in a way, to pull back the layers and expose the family truly. Eren, her brother, with straight A's and a clean-cut personality, was the exact opposite. He was gone four days a week, seeking his dealer, Armin Arlert. A weak thing, living on what he makes from selling the most illegal of drugs in their small town. His parents and grandfather passed away when he was a child, but he won't let anyone take him in.

Sometimes, Mikasa likes to follow when Eren goes to get his daily drugs and she knows they're not just swapping money for illegal things. In fact, if she can manage to glance around the corner she can sometimes catch their lips pressing against one another's to steal a kiss. Just another smudge on their catholic family—against homosexuals. How funny, that she has a girlfriend by the name of Annie Leonhart.

Grisha has never been faithful. He brings a new woman home every day, each prettier than the last, close to the looks of a model. Mikasa has never been certain how he catches them, but then again, how did Eren hook Armin? Dainty and blonde, with ocean blue eyes, pale skin and a shattered heart. The world works in the strangest of ways, she's learned over the years.

One day, they'll see what goes down in the kitchen. Broken bottles and screams, always, without fail, ending with Grisha storming out and Carla drowning her sorrows in a whiskey filled flask. One day they'll know. One day the curtains will fall back, and the Jaeger's will be exposed.

For now, though, the curtains are drawn tight.

And the Jaeger's live in a dollhouse.


	2. They Look Pretty Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's family day and Sasha promised mama she'd tell a story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on "Family Portrait" by P!nk.

Her hands are unsteady as the list dwindles down. There isn't a thing she can say positively about her family and if she tells the truth, they'll send her to counseling just like Krista Lenz and the little blonde seemed even more twitchy afterwards. Between her fingers rests the picture, they're all smiling but it isn't real because it was taken the night dad broke the television and her second dad, or who she refers to as mama cried when he put the children to bed.

"Sasha Jaeger?"

No, oh no please, not now. Her legs shake when she stands, brunette hair wispy and brown eyes darting from side to side, between students and teachers. They're all expecting some beautiful tale of love because that's the facade Armin and Eren place on the table, but at home it isn't like that and it will never be like that. Sasha breathes through her nose and pulls her hair up, out of her face, so she can see the class staring at her expectantly.

"In our family portrait, we look pretty happy," She holds up the picture and her main teacher projects it so they all see it, Armin, her second dad or mama with silky blond hair pulled back and Eren, her dad, with messy brunette hair and Connie, her little brother, head shaved and finally her, with brunette hair pulled into a nice braid her mama had done. They're all smiling and they look happy but Sasha knows it isn't real and she hates lying. "Pictures tell lies." The class is silent. She doesn't want to continue because her voice is wavering.

_"Were you drinking again? What the hell did I tell you about the fame drinking? Sasha's a light sleeper, you asshole, you'll wake her!"_

The words are so clear in her mind, all of the insults and the curses and the screams all make her head spin. "I heard glasses breaking and it made me sit up in my bed," She whispers, but the whole class hears her and she knows it. "My mama cries and I can't stand the sound. It pains me. He doesn't deserve it. He loves my dad, he does, he does, he does. And they will never leave each other." Is she assuring the class or herself? She doesn't know. Her vision blurs and her head swims and she wants to cry.

_"Shut up, whore! I'll drink whatever I want and vomit on your carpet if I want!"_

"She hurts his feelings but I know she loves him," The class has gone silent and Sasha thinks the boy in the back, Marco, is crying. "I just don't want them to leave each other. I don't want my mama to change her last name, I don't want two addresses and I don't want a stepbrother because I love my brother Connie."

_"I'm not taking some dumbass family portrait with you! It's bullshit!"_

_"Quit bitching and take the picture! We'll all smile and they'll believe we're happy!"_

She's crying now. She knows she is, she feels the hot tears on her cheeks and leaking over her eyes and onto the sweater mama knitted. "Dad can't leave us, he can't leave us alone he just can't. I promised to be better, I promised I wouldn't spill the milk at dinner because I know how much he hates it and I told him I'm sorry, I told him mama's sorry and that he never means any of the things he says when they fight because I know he doesn't!"

_A glass breaks and Sasha mama scream, cry, and crash._

_"Armin!"_

Her voice is low now and her eyes are glazed over. Marco is crying, she realizes. Is his family like this too? The thought barely processes. "I don't want love to destroy me like it has done to my family. I ran away, once, but I had to go back because I didn't have anywhere to go and I'm not going to a foster home. My mama, she. . ."

_"Armin, please talk to me, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! We can work it out, I'll stop yelling because I know Sasha can't stand it and she hates it when you cry and I know it makes her sad, too! Everything will change, just wake up and talk to me!"_

_Brown eyes peek curiously around the corner. Sasha hides skillfully, but has enough view to see the broken glasses and the one particluar with blood coating it. She investigates further and finds her father sitting in the midst of the wreckage, holding her mama gently like he's a porcelain doll, like he'll break. They're both soaked in blood, but especially her mama._

_"Mama," Her voice is weak, nothing but a whisper. "Mama!" She screams next, finding the voice she'd lost from shock._

"She. . .she's gone. But she loved us, she loved daddy, I know it!" Sasha collapses onto the floor, next, a heap of tears and sobs like a wounded puppy.

_"Sasha, go to bed!"_

_No. She won't._

_"You killed mama!"_

_Silence. She hears the wind blow outside and the pitter of raindrops, and then Connie's running down the stairs and they're clinging to each other and crying and their dad is crying with his husband gripped in his arms. They're covered in blood and Sasha knows mama is dead and is never coming back, and all she has is that sweater which she promised to wear on family day._

_Mama had bruises on his face and arms but he always had his head high and his blue eyes always had a spark of something in them, and he said that daddy never meant anything he said or did and in family day he wanted her to tell a good story._

_"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Her dad repeats like a mantra, tears streaming down his face and mixing with the blood to create a sickening pink color and Sasha cries harder, covering Connie's eyes with one hand because he shouldn't see this. She shouldn't, either. No one should. He loved mama. He did. He did, he did. But he took it too far. Sasha knew it would happen one day. She knew she should've urged mama to leave no matter how much he loved Eren, because it was dangerous for him, because he was frail and weak and he didn't stand a chance against Eren if his rage flared._

Sasha feels weak, her knees shake and her lip quivers, but she pulls herself from the floor to conclude her presentation. She will do this. She promised mama that on family day, she'd tell a story and she'd finish it. "In our family portrait, we look pretty happy," Brown eyes turn towards the visual aid and she nods. "We play pretend, act like it comes naturally."

Then she grabs a sharpie and scribbles her mama out of the picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sad Armin died, but I did write this.
> 
> He wasn't going to. But then it just happened.
> 
> Also sorry for that crappy title and description. Ech.


End file.
